March is coming in like a lion with more snow and cold temperatures in the forecast.  This year has been dubbed “Snowmageddon” since it has been one of the snowiest in recorded Indiana history.  The last time I remember a season like this was the winter we experienced “The Blizzard of ’78”.  Over the years, it has taken on legendary significance.  Even with our improved snow removal, I believe a storm of that severity would shut Indianapolis down today as it did then. This winter has been quite a challenge too. We have had so many repeat storms dropping up to 10″ of snow at a time, that most Hoosiers are groaning and just saying, “Not again”!

The dark days and the bland landscape of browns, greys and white can tend to drag us down.  Don’t get me wrong though. After a snowstorm clears out and the sky is a crystal clear blue, the carpet of pure white is beautiful.  The trees at times shimmer with their icy coating in the sun.  The problem is this beauty doesn’t last.  The snow gets dirty and just plain yucky as we trudge to and from work in our multi-layered apparel, praying that we don’t get stuck or slide off the slippery roads.  It just gets old.

So as we storm into March, I’m dreaming in color.  My soul is longing for spring. Even though we can barely see it yet, things are changing.  The days are slowly getting longer and the pollen counts are actually going up.  We’re seeing more and more Robins at the bird feeders. It never ceases to amaze me that the trees and the birds are getting ready for spring long before we humans see it coming.  The promise of spring is one of rebirth and of resurrection.  The things that appear now to be dead, come alive again in glorious rainbow colors all around us.

I remember the first winter that Shadrach was with us.  I think he was always cold that year even with the large down coat we had purchased for him.  He had not experienced anything like this in equatorial Liberia.  He worried about the trees since they all appeared to be dead.  I reassured him that spring would come at last and he would be amazed how everything survived the long, cold Indiana winter.

It is no coincidence that Easter falls in the spring.  God’s promise of rebirth and resurrection is reenacted every year when the grass turns a brilliant emerald green and flowers pop up in shades of amethyst, ruby red and gold.  No wonder that the apostle John in the last pages of Revelation describes the new Jerusalem as the colors of precious gems with streets of gold.  When the new heaven and the new earth arrive, their colors will be more spectacular than anything our eyes have beheld before.  John had trouble describing their beauty so he compared them to things he knew.  The foundations of the Holy City were decorated with jasper, sapphire, agate, emerald, onyx, ruby, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, turquoise, jacinth and amethyst. The gates were pearls and the streets were gold transparent as glass. There was light everywhere shining from the glory of God.  Can you picture it?  It’s a rainbow of colors shining for all to enjoy forever.

In “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” written by CS Lewis, when the lion, Aslan returned, the long continuous winter imposed by the witch came to an end.  The snow began to melt, birds began to sing and the flowers to bloom.  The promised return of the King arrived with the spring.  The witch’s control over Narnia was over.

It may not look like it but spring is coming.  Soon the snow will begin to melt, the birds will sing and the flowers start to bloom.  We can count on it, just as we can count on Jesus’ promise that He will return.  Evil will be no more and we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.